104 TheAustralianWomen’sWeekly|OCTOBER 2019
Whatareyourfears,ifany,about
gettingolder?
COLLEEN:I haven’tgotany– I thinkbecauseI wasa nurse.
I workedin a hospiceforabout 12 years.Andwhenyougo
nursingat 18,yougrowupveryquickly.Youseeit’sjust
thejourneyoflife.
EMMA:I thinkmybiggestfearwouldbenottobeableto
dosomething,tobebedridden.BecauseI needtogetout
anddothings.Tonotbeabletoparticipatein anything
anymore,thatis mygreatestfear.
CYNDI:Oneofmyfriendshadbreastcancer,andI’vehad
thesame.It doesmakeyousitupandthink.
ANDY:Personally,I’mnotafraidofdying.It’spartof
life– it’sa thingthathappens.I hada sisterwhodiedthis
weekandshehadcancerandit washorrible,butI’mvery
gratefulthatit wasfast.
WAYNE:I saidtomydoctor,“Howlongareyougoingto
keepmegoing?”andhesaid,“Wayne,aslongasnothing
fallsoff,wecankeepyougoinga bloodylongtime.”
BOB:MinesaidI’vegot 15 yearsleftandI said,“For
God’ssake,is 12yearsallright?”Inanewseries,welookatthegood,
thebadandthefunnysideofgetting
older.EmmaCliftontalkstoseven
residentsfromtheLoganCampbell
RetirementVillageabouteverything
fromfreedomandfriendship,tolove
andloss,tokeepingactiveandhealthy,
andeventhepurposeoflife.Thisisthe
secondofathree-partseries.ABOVE: Colleen
Christini, 81. RIGHT:
Emma Muller, 74.
BELOW: Cyndi
Smith, 72.wisdom
Words
of
PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMILY CHALK, HAIR AND MAKE-UP BY CLAUDIA RODRIGUES AND JULES ARMISHAW.Later life
“We wanted a
three-bedroom
unit so we could
have family
to stay... our
grandsons love
the pool table.”